An Intervention to Enhance Social, Emotional, and Identity Learning for Very Young Adolescents and Support Gender Equity: Protocol for a Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial

Megan Cherewick, Sarah Lebu, Christine Su, Ronald E Dahl, Megan Cherewick, Sarah Lebu, Christine Su, Ronald E Dahl

Abstract

Background: The onset of puberty is a pivotal period of human development that is associated with significant changes in cognitive, social, emotional, psychological, and behavioral processes that shape identity formation. Very early adolescence provides a critical opportunity to shape identity formation around gender norms, attitudes, and beliefs before inequitable gender norms are amplified during and after puberty.

Objective: The aim of the Discover Learning Project is to integrate strategic insights from developmental science to promote positive transformation in social, emotional, and gender identity learning among 10- to 11-year-olds in Tanzania. Through a pragmatic randomized controlled trial, the intervention scaffolds the development of critical social and emotional mindsets and skills (curiosity, generosity, persistence, purpose, growth mindset, and teamwork) delivered by conducting 18 after-school, technology-driven, experiential learning sessions in small, mixed-gender groups.

Methods: The Discover Learning Intervention is a 3-arm randomized controlled trial that will be delivered to 579 participants selected from four public primary schools in Temeke District, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Randomization will be done at the individual level into 3 treatment groups receiving incremental intervention components. The treatment components include Discover Learning content curated into child-friendly videos, facilitated discussions, and a parent-child workbook, to be implemented over two phases, each 6 weeks long. A baseline survey will be administered to participants and their parents prior to the intervention. The process will be observed systematically, and data will be collected using surveys, in-depth interviews, observations, and focus group discussions with adolescents, parents, teachers, and facilitators conducted prior, during, and after each implementation phase.

Results: This study builds on formative and pilot studies conducted with the target population to inform the design of the intervention. The results will generate new evidence that will inform strategies for achieving scale in Tanzania and provide insights for replication of similar programs that are invested in gender-transformative interventions in peri-urban, low-resource settings.

Conclusions: The Discover Learning Intervention makes an important contribution to the field of adolescent developmental science as an intervention designed for very young adolescents in a low-resource setting.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04458077; https://ichgcp.net/clinical-trials-registry/NCT04458077.

International registered report identifier (irrid): DERR1-10.2196/23071.

Keywords: adolescence; adolescence interventions; adolescents; developmental evaluation; developmental science; emotional learning; gender; gender norms; identity learning; social learning.

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

©Megan Cherewick, Sarah Lebu, Christine Su, Ronald E Dahl. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 31.12.2020.

Figures

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Figure 1
Study recruitment and implementation schedule.

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